Eleven students have been injured after a 15-year-old boy opened fire near a school in western Türkiye, with three of the victims requiring intensive care treatment.
The shooting happened at around 8am on Tuesday, 22 September, close to İnci Üzmez Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in Turgutlu, Manisa province, as students were making their way to school.
Türkiye’s Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said the teenage suspect (pictured top), who attends the school, fired at students from around 80 to 100 metres away using a pump-action shotgun registered to his grandmother.
Eleven students were wounded. Three were later described as being in a more critical condition and were being treated in intensive care, while one of the injured students has been discharged from hospital.
The suspect was arrested shortly after the attack.
By Wednesday, Anadolu Agency reported that nine people had been detained as part of the widening investigation, including the teenager’s parents, grandparents, other relatives and the owner of the hunting shop that allegedly sold him ammunition.
Investigators are examining how the weapon came into his possession as well as claims that the teenager had experienced bullying before the attack.
The Interior Ministry has sent four senior inspectors to Manisa, while two prosecutors have been assigned to the criminal investigation. The Education Ministry has also appointed inspectors to examine the circumstances surrounding the shooting, and lessons at the school were suspended for the day.
Separately, prosecutors in Ankara have opened an investigation into social media accounts accused by the Turkish authorities of posting “provocative” content about the attack.
